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Monthly Archives: October 2013

Wildly famous. Frequently scandalous. Speakers of truth to power. Action heroes. Acclaimed by the people. Romantic, rebellious, charismatic, inspirational. These were just a few of the ways saints were described at a Zócalo/Getty panel that asked a group of scholars of art, history, and religion, “Why Do We Need Saints?”
Documentary filmmaker Jody Hassett Sanchez, the evening’s moderator, opened the discussion by asking the panel, “Were saints the celebrities of their day?”

By Joel S. Baden and Candida Moss
October 31, 2013 How did David defeat Goliath? According to the Bible, it was because God was on his side. But according to Malcolm Gladwell, it was largely because Goliath had a disorder known as acromegaly, a tumor on the pituitary gland.

According to Pat Robertson a low carb diet goes against God’s laws. Candida Moss on how we were all vegans in Eden and other Biblical diets that you may (not) want to follow today.

On last week’s 700 Club, Pat Robertson announced that low-carb diets “violate the principles that God set down.” Finally, something Pat Robertson and I can agree on. According to Robertson—not a registered dietician—low carb diets “build up clinkers” and “you get swollen joints, you get gout.” The principle behind this, he adds, is that “carbs are the fire that burn everything completely.” Like napalm or the wrath of God, but for your digestive system.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia believes in the devil. Do you? Religion professor Candida Moss on why the justice’s admission is common—and what the Bible says about devilry

.In an interview in New York Magazine, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia declared that he believes the Devil is a “real person.” Scalia went on to say—in a statement reminiscent of Baudelaire and The Usual Suspects—that the Devil is actively engaged in “getting people not to believe in him or in God. He’s much more successful that way.”

Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Jesus: A History” is the best-selling book in the world right now. But it’s far from flawless. The Holy Spirit may have inspired “Killing Jesus,” but he didn’t fact-check it. Here are Five Ways it Shows.